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SparkFun GPS Shield

Description: Adding GPS to your Arduino has never been easier. Multiple GPS receivers attach easily to the shield, and with the SparkFun GPS Shield and the example sketch (check below), you will be able to locate your exact position within a few meters. Here’s where we are. GPS also gives you amazingly accurate time!

A connector for the popular EM-506 GPS receiver is populated on the board, and footprints for EM-408 and EB-85A connectors are also made available (connectors are not included and can be found below in the related items). There is also a spot for the UP501 GPS module. The regular GPS pins (RX, TX, PPS, etc.) are also broken out to a 10-pin 0.1" pitch header, and a small protoyping area is also provided.

The DLINE/UART switch switches the GPS module’s input/output between Arduino’s standard TX/RX pins or any digital pins on the Arduino (default setting uses pins 3 and 2 connected to TX and RX, respectively). The DLINE/UART switch must be set to DLINE in order to upload code through the Arduino IDE.

The shield also includes the footprint for a 12mm coin cell battery holder to provide battery backup to the optional EB-85A GPS module.An ON/OFF switch is included which controls power to the GPS module. Additionally, the Arduino reset switch is also brought out.

Note: GPS modules are not included with the GPS Shield, and only the EM-406 connector is populated. Headers are also not installed or included, we recommend the 6 and 8-pin stackable headers.

Features:

EM-406 connector populated

EM-408 and EB-85A connector footprints provided and connected for optional use

Hy Guys, I hope that will be helpfull for someone. On grabcad.com I have posted a 3d sketch model (stp format) of this board. it’s exported from eagle schema. If ask it’s available also in Alibre format

I plan to buy a GPS shield. Can anybody tell me, how can I controll my GPS from software, that the GPS is ready at the moment? So that the GPS can receive at least 4 satellite, so it can send appropriate data about the position? The shiled will be built into a device, so any visible indicating is useless (i.e blanking LED). The only salution should be a software routine, which report “true”, or any boolean-convertable variable that indicates the GPS module ready for positioning.
Lot of thanx
GF

Check out the Tiny GPS library which has a lot of useful functions. I’m not sure if it has a function specifically to do this, but when a GPS module doesn’t have a lock it tends to output 0s for Longitude and Latitude, checking for that should work.

Please Help me, I have this module and make all the steps, but I use Arduino Leonardo and the example no work, always with all configurations in the shield the sentence “uart_gps.available()” returns false; whats wrong? Is possible to get technical assitence??

Guess the forum is unmonitored so I’ll try to answer regarding the GPS shield possible problems. I’d recheck all the soldering on the board to make sure that you don’t have a solder bridge between any of the header pins, and that’s you haven’t missed any connections that should be solder! 90 percent of all problems with electronics is soldering and power related. The fact that the 406 GPS is flashing means that it’s not getting a lock for some reason. Have you tried it using the UART pins instead of DLINE? Does it work (get a lock) when just powered and not connected tot he GPS shield?

The first step is to put the shield under a magnifying glass or loop and have a very careful look for any solder bridges or missing solder connections and its best if someone else does it for you because, believe it or not, you’ll overlook the same mistake and the more simple the circuit the more chance of a mistake! Been their, done that!

I have the SparkFun GPS shield and the 406 GPS unit. I have confirmed connection between the GPS RX to Arduino TX and GPS TX to Arduino RX with an ohmmeter. I’m running the current example sketch listed under the GPS Shield listing but I get no data. I do get:
GPS Shield QuickStart Example Sketch v12
…waiting for lock…
But nothing more. I have open skies and the activity light on the GPS is flashing away but after 7 minutes still nothing is printed out on the serial monitor other than the above two sentences. I have confirmed +5v and GND on the GPS 406 plug. The sketch compiled OK with no errors. I’m using the UNO board and power through the USB from my laptop. Switch is in the DLINE position and the ON/OFF switch is in the ON position.
Does the case of the GPS unit have to be totally insulated from the shield? I mounted it with thin double sided tape but on the prototyping area which I assume is not connected to anything. I may try some double sided foam tape to lift it above the board to see if that could be causing a problem. My old Garmin gets a fix in a minute or two in the same location. Does anyone have any idea of what the heck is going on here?

I’m trying to connect this to an Arduino Mega (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11061). The shield fits, but it isn’t quite flush because the USB connection on the Mega is in the way, so the shield can’t go down all the way. The header pins all line up and make a good connection, though. Is this anything to worry about? Sorry, I’m pretty new at this. Thanks!

Can anyone explain what happens if you try and upload code without switching the DLINE/UART switch over? I mean I get that it won’t work, but I tend to be pretty forgetful when it comes to that sort of thing, will it damage the receiver in any way?

If you have a GPS connected and the switch is in the UART position, you won’t be able to load Arduino sketches, due to bus contention. This won’t damage the board. If you switch to DLINE, you can upload your sketch, but now the serial lines on the GPS are moved to pins D2 and D3 (instead of TX and RX) on the Arduino. So you will either need to use NewSoftSerial libraries or switch back to UART after uploading. Hope that helps.

The UP501 RX pin should see 3.3V not the 5V defaul from Arduino. Is there a divider network or something else on the board that keeps the UP501 RX below 5V? I think the answer is no because I’m measuring the UP501 RX pin at 5V – won' this damage the GPS?

Has anyone notice that the assembly guide’s Shield does not match the current GPS Shield – http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/184 ???
I am not saying this to be mean but there are something’s on the new shield that does not make any sense. There is a little Bat/3.3 jumper above the sparkfun.com logo on image 2 which the pads look like the same SJ1 and SJ2. It’s not a through hole connector which Jumper 31-2 is. On the Schematic it shows a battery, but nothing equates to this object (I think it’s a jumper 31-2- but it does not reflect the what the part looks like) on the PCB (Batt/3.3V).
The other thing that shows up on the new GPS shield that does not show up on the Schematic is the UP501 GPS silk screen on the PCB. The silk screen pins for the UP501 is not even labeled, unlike everything else is on the GPS shield. YES, there is the EM406 that has six pins, but nothing on the schematic that indicates that it matches up with the UP501 GPS silk screen.
I think the dead horse has been hit enough…
Will someone at Sparkfun please fix all of this? Thanks. -BlackLab.

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